Shames of war
Probably the most clinical women centric film I’ve seen since ‘Zero Dark Thirty’. There have been manly female centric films which I’ve watched and loved but ‘The Whistleblower’ was the closest to perfect movie in the genre that I like. A strong female leading the way without breaking away. Guess only if female directors make film, it’ll come out this good. ‘The Whistleblower’ blew me off my mind out of nowhere, wonder why it was not as celebrated as it should have been. Not only was it a clinical film but it was a film with a purpose.
It was the first of the unknown treasure in my Hard Disk. Guess I’ll be unraveling a lot more in coming days. Luckily for me the subtitles didn’t work for non-English part, I’ve always wanted to make film like that where the non-native language shouldn’t have subtitles. Isn’t it how it’ll be for us if we are in the situation? That’s why I could empathize with the lead character, Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) in a better way, when she was in a different part of the world.
Rachel Weisz was intentionally toned down in her makeup yet she couldn’t help but be beautiful in some of the close up shots. Oh, what a curse to have. Parts of her character reminded of Sue (Alice Patten) from ‘Rang De Basanti’ and Maya Harris (Jessica Chastain) from ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, who in turn felt like an alter ego of Kathryn Bigelow. When compared to the latter, the former looked more superficial. Even as a film, ‘The Whistleblower’ was similar to ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ with all its military cunningness.
The film starts with Raya (Roxana Condurache), a young Ukrainian woman coming home late but rejoining the party again due to her mother’s rudeness and it was evident that something worse was going to happen. On the other side of the spectrum is Kathryn who’s trying for a transfer to remain close to her daughter. After a couple of failed marriage that’s the only solace she was trying to find but gets an offer to earn big bucks in short time so agrees for an assignment to go to Bosnia.
She goes up in the ranks and thankfully the drama at home doesn’t erupt, even her daughter cuts her phone in a hurry, so in a way it was a relief. Just like how the phone call doesn’t affect us, it doesn’t affect Kathyrn too as it’s all sudden and she has bigger problems. Ever since she finds out what’s happening in the organization, the film’s tension remains on a high always.
The best part about the movie was that she doesn’t come out as a superficial character who wins against all odds. She remains very much part of system and yet she has to fight it and she does it so beautifully. Rachael Weisz was splendid in the movie. If made into Tamil with Nayanthara it’d have been easily spoilt and made into a movie like ‘Aramm’ where the only focus would be her. Even though in the film her struggle would have been shown we wouldn’t be able to empathize her because we know that just like our heroes she too would succeed but with Kathyrn we could very much empathize her. Plus I loved the fact that there wasn’t a scene where she was physically abused by a male. That’s so depressing to watch in a female centric when the fairer sex get out powered by something and they couldn’t fight. Thankfully in the movie she fights the system more than men, even though it’s made up of them. That’s how lovely the director, Larysa Kondracki had made the film without taking a feminist tone.
Post war movies are always hard hitting. This movie too was. Plus knowing that it was inspired by real events makes it more horrific. Wonder how much of the post credit scenes were true but as per the news Kathyrn has been successful in the attempt to unravel the mask for corrupt people. Also the end even though looks like a Tamil film template, by going to media, it looked like the only realistic option of her winning without being a wonder woman. It’s a shame that the director hadn’t made any other movie after this, yet, that’s one more reason to love the film too. Because it shows her determination in what she wanted to do and not continue just for the sake of it. Just like Kathyrn, Larysa Kondracki too is a woman of purpose.
constantscribbles 